The Absence of Krypton
by I'm Moving to Mars
Summary: 'Kara could only hear silence, but the city was screaming along with her and when she stopped crying, when she stopped moving, a darkness overtook the skies. Supergirl was dead.' Following the Daxamite attack, Kara is trying to keep some normality in her life but when old enemies emerges she finds herself obsessed with her Kryptonian roots and the overwhelming desire of home.
1. The Fall

**"You have been the sun of our lives. Our prayers will be the sun that lights your way on the journey home. We will remember you in every dawn and await the night we join you in the sky. Rao's will be done."**

 _From the depths of the sky, Supergirl fell. Plummeting to the earth; she almost reached the speeds her pod had as it too had hurtled down towards the planet. Her hair whipped her face in the wind as she stared blankly at the explosion that had thrown her down so far. Her skin ―that glowed a warm, sickly green―stood out from the blue and red costume she fought in._

 _The heavens of fire framed her body as it fell, sprinklings of pure white sunlight burst through the black cloud dabbled with the shrapnel and flames that rained down around her. It was almost a beautiful sight; the end of the Girl of Steel was one to be marked in history for millennia to come._

 _Across the city, loved ones looked up. The ones who always spoke found themselves wordless, those who always took things slowly raced towards their friend, the people who constantly hurried around couldn't inch forward even a step._

 _Kara Zor-El, for she had forgone her earth name of 'Danvers', herself was hardly awake however she could comprehend a solitary thought: no one in this universe is going to miss me. She had pushed so many people away. She had tried so hard to be more than human. She had become so obsessed with being more loyal to her Kryptonian roots. In return she was now alienated from the world, suitable for a creature like her._

 _Someone would save her...wouldn't they? Yet she was getting closer and closer to the ground with no one in sight. The city's heart pounded harder and harder. The ground opened it's arms to welcome her._

 _On the ground, J'onn held Alex back as she screamed for her sister._

" _Kara!" A ravaged cry out for someone to help her. The woman's mouth flooded with blood as she tore herself apart to help, Supergirl's fists had done their damage._

" _You can't stop me, Alex!" Kara had yelled. "I want to go home!" Alex had known the truth...why hadn't she listened?_

 _ **Kara why didn't you listen!**_

 _She got closer and closer...closer and closer...Alex dropped to her knees with a silent cry, curling up: she couldn't watch._

 _A shockwave jolted through the city when she hit the ground and a burst of green exploded into the sky. Kara convulsed. The pain….it was too much...a guttural scream left her lips as she shook and cried._

 _ **I want my sister.**_

 _She sobbed in her mind. Alex. She wanted Alex. She couldn't even think about what she had done to her._

 _No-one was allowed to get close, Kara assumed they didn't care. She couldn't hear Alex crying, or Cat collapsing to the ground, or Winn getting angry. She could hear so little, and less and less with each passing second._

 _What Non had said was true. She couldn't get that thought out her mind. He was right, he had been right all along. It didn't matter now did it?_

 _Kara could only hear silence, but the city was screaming along with her and when she stopped crying...when she stopped moving, a darkness overtook the skies. Supergirl was dead._

 **Hey! I've been working on this fanfiction for a little while now so if anyone's up for leaving a review I would appreciate it! If people like it I think I'm going to aim for posting a chapter a week? And maybe one or two extra here or there if I feel like it. :) Just so I have some idea about what chapter lengths people would like if they want me to continue posting the fanfic could you take a look at the Poll in my bio and vote? Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **~Eli**


	2. Tragedies of Loss

_**'Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.'**_ **_-The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)_**

 _Before_

Cat Grant scanned her eyes across the people scattered around her office before her. People from every department and all of them squirming under her gaze. Some of them she hardly recognised, others she could pick out at a glance; James, Snapper and of course: Kara.

"Supergirl," The name rolled from her tongue, and as always the blonde millennial in the back shifted just a little bit...just enough for Cat to notice. "has done more in this month since the Daxamite invasion than she has done in all her time in National City," She leant one hand on her desk. "More than most of you have done in your entire lives." She snapped, letting her words settle across the room. "So why do I have no exclusives on anything?" A muddle of excuses bounced around and finally Cat waved them away. "Find me something." She told them as they filed from the room and she sat down rubbing at her temples.

"Kiera!" She summoned the retreating figure back into her office. "Sit." The order came paired with a finger pointed to one of the sofas. The girl sat down with a startling sharpness. "How...have you been?" Cat asked in a more murmured tone, knowing that the doors to her office were open and a surprising number of her staff enjoyed listening in. "Have you seen the young man? Sent a well practiced glare in his direction?" She asked as she strutted over and perched on the sofa opposite the superhero.

"Miss Grant?" Cat almost chuckled at the way she pretended nothing was happening but apparently being sensitive meant no laughing. It was amusing, how Kara seemed to believe that she was a good liar and that a single pair of black frames were supposed to convince someone as eagle-eyed as Cat Grant that she didn't share alikeness with the Girl of Steel.

"Just under a month ago you were sitting right there with..tears coming out of your eyes, Kiera, how have you been?" With hand gestures and a undertone of sternness Cat got what she wanted out of Kara.

"Getting better, slowly." Her reply was honest enough for Cat. On the tip of her tongue was a comment about how keeping busy saving the city must have been helping but she held it in. She understood how Kara used CatCo as a break from it all and she was happy to keep the ball rolling if it meant Supergirl continued to save people; Kara wasn't to know that Cat knew about her Supergirl identity.

"Bring me some fresh, cold water Kiera, I have a headache to die for." Cat said as she stood back up to return to her desk. "Bottled." She added, she couldn't have germs touching her water before it reached her lips. She always seemed to forget that Kara wasn't her assistant anymore, but she had fired the new one that very morning so, without asking, she immediately fitted Kara into the slot in this time of need. The young woman quickly left and Cat found herself alone, as alone as she could be with hundreds of staff buzzing outside the glass petitions.

With a shift of a hand she had her laptop open and she had the CatCo website up; other news websites up. She sat back and waited for the next report concerning Supergirl to appear, what would Kara manage to get up to on just one trip to get some water?

* * *

Outside, Kara walked down the street against the flow of people hurrying to their jobs at places that didn't have as obscene working hours as Miss Grant demanded. In her hand was a water bottle, sealed and cooled as Miss Grant had demanded of her and keeping strict to those demands had kept Kara's mind away from Mon-El. Zooming around as Supergirl did the same thing for her, keeping her busy until she slept over and over again. She hardly took the costume off anymore, where she used to keep the skirt and cape nearby now she wore them both constantly under dresses as she wandered the streets during the day and her boots were never far away.

When she used her super hearing Kara felt like the entire city was within arms reach and she could hear the brush of one leaf against another in National City Park mixed with the cries of a new born baby in the Children's hospital. She would often listen for the people that she cared about. Nothing close to an invasion of privacy, she was merely checking she could hear their voices because that way she knew they were okay. Their voices were some in the sea of noise that she cared to listen for daily. Of course, she didn't have to listen to everything at once, she could close down on a specific word from a certain person, but listening to the whole city helped her understand who needed help and when.

" _Supergirl will save us."_

The words she had heard so many times. Kara tore through the street, ducking into a back alley where Supergirl took over from her alias. In the sky, she felt far more comfortable than she did anywhere down on Earth: she was free from all problems and, even just a little, closer to where she had come from. Part of her wanted to stay in the sky forever but she also knew she had a job to do.

The fire ate through doors and windows, licking it's way up one building and onto the next by the time Supergirl swooped into view. Vaguely Kara heard people cheering but she was focused on scanning through the building with her x-ray vision. Hunched figures of darkness were on three separate floors and the first step was exhausting her lungs to eradicate the flames, her freeze breath dealt with the majority of the flames.

"I'm coming!" She called out, only hoping that the people inside understood that. Did they even know she was around?

Cutting her thoughts off short, Supergirl dove into the building through a wall that was half destroyed already. Her eyes flicked around and her ears guided her towards the coughing; with superspeed she grabbed each person and placed them on the grass near the firefighters. She smiled as she placed what she thought was the last person down. While the majority seemed pleased, one woman wasn't smiling.

"My son! Supergirl where's my son?" She grabbed onto the arm of the superhero and Kara jerked just a little bit with a frown on her face. She hadn't seen anyone else in the building. She must have made a mistake.

"I'll find him." The end of her words got lost in the wind as she took to the skies once again.

"Come on, come on, come on." She mumbled to herself, scanning for the boy...maybe even for a body, but her ears were still pricked for the beat of a heart. In this moment she wished she would hear the voice of her sister in her earpiece, but she doubted that would happen anytime soon. She was with Maggie today and therefore unable to help.

"Come on!" She screamed at herself and for the first time the people gathered below began to look concerned, as if they didn't trust Supergirl. A nervous mumble breached through the crowd and they backed up from the building giving the girl more space as she urgently sweeped around the building not understanding where this seemingly invisible boy was.

Then. She noticed it.

At the back of the very bottom floor, she could see some movement. It wasn't even a floor as much as it was a basement, half below the ground with windows half peeking up above the surface of the concrete that surrounded the building. The echos of movement came from a small chest coughing and heaving; Kara dived down through a window into the smoky apartment.

The flames down there had been protected from her freeze breath and roared like a lion at the young boy curled in the back corner of the kitchen. Supergirl made her way over, freezing over the hostile beast with gasps of air. She crouched before the boy, peering at him through the gap in the cabinets that he was hidden behind with a friendly face.

"Hello." She whispered, holding eye-contact with him. The symbol on her chest held his gaze for a few long moments as she moved her cape to protect the boy from the dregs of smoke that was still billowing, she blew some of it away.

"Mummy and I were playing hide and seek." He replied, with the spontaneous nature held by every child. Supergirl smiled, a happy sunlit brightness in her eyes.

"I know, she asked me to join in and I found you." She grinned, holding a hand out in offer to help him out from the space. "We thought you'd like a prize of flying with me for a minute?" She added, standing up from her low position and stepped back with the boy following her. He was nodding eagerly and she took the opportunity to escape from the damaged room and take to the skies with the boy in her arms. She let him have a few moments watching over National City before returning him to the open arms of his mother.

"Thank you Supergirl." The desperation and she reached out to touch Kara again for the same reaction; a jerk followed but this time followed by an apologetic look.

"I have to go." She replied, stepping back and soaring up within the blink of an eye. The crowd craned their necks to see where she went, everyone in National City wanted to know what Supergirl did when she wasn't wearing that cape, however Kara didn't let them get any idea, disappearing behind a building and never coming out the other side.

* * *

Back on solid ground, Kara Danvers headed back towards CatCo in her skirt and shirt combination and a odd feeling lurking in the back of her mind. Inside the gleaming structure people rushed around even in the lobby and Kara smiled at the security men as she passed them on the way to the lifts.

Inside, letting herself rest by leaning against the side, Kara listened again. On the journey to the top floor, she checked what was going on and the shouting made her head ache. Perhaps it would just be better to turn around and continue being a superhero for a while longer: a far easier task than attempting to stop Miss Grant from destroying people with her dragon wrath.

"Hey Kara." James greeted when she entered, pulling her eyes from the argument between Miss Grant and Snapper taking place in the glass boxing ring. His eyes narrowed a little in concern and a matching smile worked the way onto his face. "Weren't you supposed to get Cat some water.."

"Oh Rao!" She cursed the name of the god, she knew she had forgotten something. "Do you have any water?" She asked.

"Mini fridge in my office," He replied, moving his hand to gesture at the ash that was on her face but she was already gone.

Moments later Kara entered the office warzone with her decisively nervous walk and her head down as she walked past the two people.

"Here we are Miss Grant." She got no answer as she placed it on the desk and took away the empty water bottle that had been consumed the evening before. She didn't need her super hearing to understand what was going on, the workplace rivals were having an bout concerning Supergirl.

"You won't let me run anything negative." Snapper complained. "We need to be impartial, not bending to the whims of this red skirted child." He added, he was right in the face of Miss Grant and Kara stretched her fingers out so they wouldn't curl into fists.

"She is my protégé and therefore negativity isn't the way we are going to handle this." Cat responded with a superior air of calmness that made Kara's shoulders ease downwards.

"She forgot to save a child today!" He growled towards his boss, not that he treated her that way. "She left him in the smoke, he could have died." He stated smugly, as if happy to see the superhero fail.

"I've seen the video." Cat snapped. "And before you say it," Snapper shut his mouth as she stole his point. "I am well aware that she flinched." Kara frowned a little, she didn't understand what Cat was talking about. She didn't realise that he involuntary flinching had been caught clearly on camera.

Cat walked past Kara on the way back to her desk and cracked open the water bottle with a pointed look towards the young woman. In her chair she was powerful, despite being lower down than others in the room, and as Kara stepped away even Snapper lost some of his smug demeanour.

"Run the article." Cat said and Snapper looked momentarily pleased. "But I will personally editing it and if I see too much negativity then it's not running. We aren't trying to send Supergirl to her grave." The man left with a wave of Cat's hand but when Kara tried to the do the same she was summoned forward.

"Kiera, come and watch this." Once graced with the viewpoint that came with Cat's side of the desk, Kara was shocked to see the amount of reports concerning Supergirl that her boss has open. The video comprised of the key moments from the past half and hour; Supergirl being unable to find the child the first time around and the two touches that broke the fearless barrier of the Girl of Steel.

"Wouldn't you say my superhero is lacking a little bit right now?" Cat mused, seeing Kara's eyes focused on the video, which was playing again, and noted the bemused expression.

Kara nodded in response, stepping back from the desk a moment later.

"I intend to find out why." This was by far the most obvious tip that Cat knew who Kara was yet the girl refused to acknowledge the fact; she was utterly convinced by her glasses and the fact that Cat Grant had already seen Kara and 'Supergirl' in the same room. As Cat moved her laptop and began typing on it Kara took her cue to leave but the woman piped up again.

"Snapper wants to see you." The diligent nod came again. "Oh, and Kara?" She waited until the young woman looked back at her. Cat gestured to the ash on Kara's face by rubbing a finger against her own and smirked as she hurried off rubbing at her face. She couldn't understand what was up with her just yet, assuming it was more than the loss of this boy, but she knew that it would all make sense soon.

* * *

"What's wrong with you, Ponytail?" Snapper asked in his usual uncaring tone as he noticed Kara hanging around with little objectivity to her tasks.

"Why…" She took a deep breath. "Why do you argue with Miss Grant over Supergirl so much?" She demanded, she had been practicing her bossy tone which she saved for Snapper. She twisted her head a little as she spoke and furrowed her brows. The man rolled his eyes and sat down at his desk, dumping down some articles heavily as he did so.

"Because otherwise that woman would make Supergirl some viable god for people to pray to." He snapped. "Because otherwise people will begin to see her as a threat, everyone needs flaws." Kara couldn't disagree. She didn't want to be a god. She never wanted people to be afraid of her again.

"But..she's your boss..how can you.." Snapper shook his head.

"I do not have to please Cat Grant, Ponytail." He sneered. "That's your job." Kara clenched her jaw but stayed quiet. Snapper sensed that the conversation was over and moved on in an instant.

"I need you to head over to L-Corp at some point today. We need an interview from Lena Luthor and she will only speak to you." Kara sighed, she had been avoiding Lena since the Daxamite invasion and she hadn't prepared herself to see her just yet. Snapper noticed the look on her face.

"Don't even think about it, Danvers. These are your questions, _stick to them_." He ordered, passing over a notebook. "Don't ask for any other assignments until it's done." He added, guessing that she might try and 'forget' to go.

"Get outta here, Blondie." He added, waiting for her to scurry from the reporter department with her tail between legs.

* * *

Alex was at home with Maggie, the pair of them curled up on the couch with oversized t-shirts and underwear on. She had stolen some DVD's from her sister's collection and was enjoying her day off from the stressful, but still perfect, job at the DEO. Having left both Kara and J'onn under orders to stay out of trouble and avoid contacting her unless it was an emergency.

"Another film?" Maggie piped up as the credits rolled on the third film of the day, Alex hummed in response. She may have ordered Kara to leave her alone for the day, but she couldn't help but worry about her sister: Maggie saw the signs immediately and couldn't help but sigh.

"Just go and call Kara, Alex." She stated, waiting a few seconds. "But I guarantee she will be fine. The Girl of Steel can cope for a day without you."

"But can Kara?" Alex shot back immediately. Of everyone who openly knew about Kara's secret she was the best at separating the two people from each other, whether that was good or not was yet to be understood.

Maggie sat up and reached for her girlfriend's phone, pressing it into Alex's hand.

"Just go and speak to her." She even pressed Kara's number for Alex.

" _Thank you."_ Alex mouthed to Maggie as she held the phone to her ear and watched her girlfriend get up and head towards the kitchen to make some coffee.

" _Hey Alex! I thought today was your day with Maggie?"_ The voice of her sister calmed Alex immediately and she relaxed into the sofa more.

"It is." Alex replied. "But I still wanted to check up on you, Kara." She added.

" _I'm fine, Alex."_ It was Alex's job to never believe it when Kara said that until she was one hundred percent sure it was true and without Kara in her sights she couldn't confirm it right then and there.

"Kara.." Alex returned in a warning tone, listening to her sister carefully as she spoke.

From the kitchen, resting on the countertop, Maggie watched Alex talk to Kara. She couldn't help but notice the way Alex was more relaxed when she knew that Kara was safe, she was brighter when she had her sister next to her, she seemed more peaceful when Supergirl was around to save the day. Maggie wished that she had the same effect on her girlfriend, but the Girl of Steel was a tough competitor.

"She's okay." Alex looked over and smiled at her a little while later.

"I'm sure." Maggie replied a little dryly, grabbing her cup of coffee from the machine sharply and sitting back down on the edge of the sofa. Biting her tongue from further remarks she flipped on a new film with Alex still oblivious to how she felt. The upside was that now Alex knew Kara was okay it wouldn't be brought up again for a while.

"What are we watching now?" Alex asked, kicking her legs out to fill the space where Maggie hadn't sat curled up with her again. "Superheros maybe?" She asked with a small laugh, flicking to that section of Netflix; fictional Super Heroes combined with the occasional documentary about Superman.

"When you do think someone will make a documentary about Kara?" Alex asked, nudging Maggie with her foot. The cop responded with a short lived hum.

"No time soon." She replied, watching at Alex's face fell a little bit but the other woman didn't bring anything up.

Maggie sighed, picking up her phone off the table and seeing a few texts here and there, only one of them caught her eye.

"I have to go." She stated hurriedly but still with a sense of calm. Shrugging Alex off she got dressed in lightning speed.

"But it's our day." Alex protested with a frown as she looked at Maggie with questioning and confusion in her eyes as she wasn't being told about what was so urgent and couldn't understand why.

"That ended the moment you called Kara."

The front door shut between them with a cold sense left in both the woman it stood between.

* * *

 **Hey! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review or follow/favourite the story if you did. I know not much actually happened this chapter but I promise that in the next chapter it really picks up with the plot. What was your favourite part of this chapter? :)**

 **~Eli**


	3. Enemy Survival

_**'Being family is determined more by behaviour than blood.'**_

Kara pushed her way through the rotating door into L-Corp with a shaky sigh. She may have been able to defeat creatures from galaxies unknown and lift a car with one arm but Lena Luthor was an unpredictable quantity that she had no plan for how to deal with.

"Hello.." she said to the woman at the desk, fumbling for her ID badge in her pockets. "I'm with CatCo maga.." The woman cut her off.

"Miss Danvers." She smiled as if she had known Kara her entire life. "You can go straight in. Ms Luthor is expecting you." She added, buzzing the nervous Kara through the security doors where she slowly moved into the lift and to the floor she had visited many times.

As it rose towards the top of the building Kara's stomach flipped more than when she flew through the air for the first time in years. She willed for some divine intervention from any god that was around to make the lift stop. It didn't happen and the ping for the top floor hit Kara like a stab to the chest.

She walked in with the most confidence she could when the personal assistant showed her inside; but Lena wasn't even there. Kara deflated a little bit: from relief or disappointment it couldn't be told.

"Ms Luthor will be through soon, Miss Danvers." Kara nodded, finding herself awkwardly hovering in the center of the office after the assistant left.

It hadn't changed from the last time Kara had been there which was when they discussed denoting all the lead into the atmosphere. The time Lena asked her whether she, as Supergirl, knew Kara Danvers was dating Mon-El. Of course she did, but she still decided to get rid of him: how could she have not worked out another way?

The windows filtered the soft midday light the sun glazed over National City onto the plush carpet under Kara's feet. The sofa at the side of the room looked as untouched as ever while the desk was the same pristine workspace it had always been. Kara wasn't sure whether this particular office of L-Corp had been damaged at all during the Daxamite attack but if it had then there wasn't a single dent of imperfectness to infer it. On the shelves were devices that Kara could never dream of truly understanding: she was smart but compared to Lena that was nothing. The memory of her covertly breaking the alien-detector sprung to mind when she noticed the thing on the second shelf. Despite all this being the same, Kara couldn't have felt more out of place in the room.

"Kara!" The familiar British-twanged American voice made the young woman jump a little as she had become comfortable with the silence.

"Sit down." Lena urged, smiling at the other woman as she sat down on one of the sofas. Kara continued to stand awkwardly as she had been hoping for Lena to sit at her desk while with the sofa it would look obvious when she chose to sit opposite her instead of next to her. With Lena's gaze on her Kara took the armchair opposite Lena. Dark eyes narrowed at her.

"I have a list of questions." Kara stated, pulling the notepad and pen from her bag and looked up at Lena waiting for her indication to begin.

"You aren't being serious, are you?" Lena asked, holding her head to the side as she watch Kara. "I haven't seen you in almost a month and you want to play reporter?" She scoffed a little bit, standing up and sitting back down behind the protection of her desk. Kara followed with a shuffle.

"I don't want to loose my job." Kara replied honestly, skirting around what Lena had said.

The other woman sent an intense glare in the direction of Kara, a look edge with confusion and hurt and she begun to realise Kara hadn't just been hidden away due to upset; she had been avoiding her. All those attempted calls, visits...Kara had never wanted her there.

"Ask away." The voice returned, Kara flicking through her questions for the first time. She coughed inadvertently when she saw the first one.

 _What is your relationship with Supergirl?_

Glancing down the series of questions she only saw the name again and again: _Supergirl, Supergirl, Supergirl._

"What...what is your relationship with Supergirl?" Kara mumbled out, Lena only hearing because when it was Kara she always listened closely.

"Can you speak a little louder, Kara?" She asked with a soft smirk. She may have heard Kara, but she felt the need to be a little cruel in return for the young woman's actions against Lena.

"What is your relationship with Supergirl, Ms Luthor?" Kara repeated, resting pen to paper. Lena smiled thoughtfully: how could she make Kara jealous?

"I don't know what you'd call it." Lena replied, tapping her fingers on the desk considering what she could create. Little did she know Supergirl was sitting directly opposite her, waiting to write down each answer that came out.

"A work relationship? A friendship? I'd like to think we're close. Even with the events with Lex and Superman she enjoys being around me, I'll put it that way." Lena mused, allowing Kara to scribble down the words and eyeing the page to ensure they were put down correctly.

"Have you been aware of Supergirl's activities recently?" Kara didn't understand the relevance of the questions...they appeared to be unrelated to each other and she couldn't piece together what article she was supposed to write from any of this.

"She's been busy." Lena replied. "Of course I've noticed." She added as Kara scribbled down the words. "She doesn't seem to stop. She hasn't even come to see me in while."

For close to the next hour Kara asked the questions of Lena who, without hesitation, answered everything until there was a single pristine question left, hidden in the jungle of Kara's notes.

"Have you and Supergirl.." Kara was ready to walk out. What is Rao's name did Snapper want with this information? He was never one to spout tabloid articles. "Have you and Supergirl ever kissed?" Lena chuckled; Kara flushed a deep red.

"No. The Girl of Steel is yet to grace my lips, but I like your thinking, Danvers. We'll have to see about that one another time." Kara opened her mouth to speak but Lena cut her off as her assistant walked into the room.

"Could you show Kara out, I'll make my own way to the board meeting." She smiled kindly at the older woman. "I'll see you soon I hope, Kara." She added towards the young woman before making her graceful, powerful exit from the room by a private exit.

"Miss Danvers? Just this way please."

* * *

Back at CatCo instead of watching over her world from inside her office Cat was sitting on the balcony hunched, well not _hunched_ as she was far too conscious of her posture for that, over her laptop.

On it she whittled away at a piece, no, an _investigation,_ into Supergirl that would blow the first cover and reveal from the year or so before out of the water. Of course she knew she had the real one just outside the door, or wherever Kiera was right then, however this was different. Supergirl was an icon, an idol, she was more than the alien that saved people, she seemed like a friend to all. Cat felt it was her duty to let the world know about the struggles of Supergirl. What relationships she had, what she was going through, why she was working herself to the brink.

At the back of her mind, Cat wondered whether it affected her loyalty to Kara however she wanted the world to get to know Supergirl; and that young woman wasn't the same as Kara despite what the reality was.

"Danvers got the interview." Snapper didn't even bothered to greet his boss when he walked out onto the balcony. The young millennial had returned with a look of razors, she was as unimpressed with the questions as Snapper had been when Cat had given them to him.

"You sent Kara?" She asked with a raised brow, of course, Snapper wasn't aware of the..similarities between Supergirl and the young reporter. "Was she really the most appropriate for this?" Cat asked as she took the notepad from the man and smiled a little at the messy yet organised notes Kara had made.

"Lena Luthor wouldn't speak to anyone else. It was a point blank refusal; Danvers or no interview." Snapper said, unimpressed. He wished that the businesswoman of National City would gain some professionalism.

Cat just chuckled in response, as if Lena would be able to tempt Kara back into speaking with her again. She flicked through the pages a few more times.

"Anyways, this is perfect." She told him. "You can leave now." She added, turning back to her work. This was the article that would win her the Pulitzer, she could feel it.

* * *

Supergirl always liked to end the day with a fly over National City. After barely saving the little boy, the interview with Lena and the overall non-stop buzz of CatCo for the rest of the day she was emotionally exhausted. Up in the sky she was free from all the problems down below just for a few moments; precious moments. If she wanted, she could fly all the way to the edge of the atmosphere but this evening she didn't want to go that far.

For a moment she thought about her cousin, she hadn't seen him since the Daxamite attack. If she wanted, she could fly to Metropolis to see him but she couldn't be sure that he wanted her there. His visits to National City were few and far between and she knew that was due to his ties to Lois and The Daily Planet however there was a sense of bitterness between her and her cousin and in a sense there always had been; Kara just wasn't sure she was up for hiding it anymore.

' _Kara,'_ the familiar crackle of her sister's voice in her ear made Kara jolt, Alex wasn't supposed to be at work today.

' _The comms have picked you up miles outside the city, what are you doing?'_ Supergirl sighed.

"I'm just going for a fly, Alex? Am I not allowed to do that anymore?" She added, minutely aware that the others at the DEO could likely hear her as well. When no response came Kara stopped herself dead in the sky, allowing herself to hover above the earth below.

"Alex?" She demanded in a tone unlike usual.

' _Return to National City, Supergirl.'_

"J'onn?" She frowned, where had Alex gone?

' _Supergirl,'_ came the warning tone, and anger flared up inside Kara. If even a fellow alien wouldn't treat her properly how on earth was anyone else supposed to.

' _Now.'_

* * *

Non was forgotten. In the depths of the Department of Extranormal Operations, out in the caves and in a cell, he sat blindly day after day. After the fight with Supergirl, when his laser vision failed him, so did his eyes and the final thing he could remember seeing was the girl in red and blue running away from him towards the martian. Even for the agents in the branch, whose lives were significantly less exciting now Supergirl had moved over to the DEO headquarters in the city, he was a dull prisoner. While others screamed for release, threatened the guards or cursed Supergirl to no end he merely sat in silence as he was handed food and water on a careful schedule. Anyone who observed him saw a broken man. How wrong they were.

His eyes were gone but his ears were everything and he could almost feel the movements people made around the building.

Outside at the control panel, Scott groaned.

"Cell four's camera is down!" He announced boredly, kicking his legs down off the desk when none of the people wandering around answered.

"He's blind, leave it, he's not going anywhere." Someone replied, Scott clicked a few more buttons but it wasn't going to be fixed without proper tech support and the majority of that had moved with Supergirl.

"It's fine, I'll head down there now on the food run." Another replied, heading out of the central room pulling the lunch trolley with her.

Inside Cell Four was Non, lying down with his mind whirling. He had hundreds of plans to escape, some of them plausible and some of them not and all of them unusable while he was blind.

"Lunch." The uncaring voice of the DEO agent filled the room, Non smiled to himself: the timing was perfect.

"Have you gone deaf as well? Lunch." The agent repeated, she was waiting for Non to sit up and hold his hands in plain sight before she opened the glass cell.

"I want Supergirl to give it to me." Non replied, slowly and carefully with a smirk on his face. "I demand that Supergirl gives it to me." The woman scoffed, shaking her head as she approached the cell.

"She doesn't come around these parts anymore." She stated, swiping her pass to open the cell despite Non not moving. "The department in the the city is more her style now." There was a sense of bitterness but what about Non didn't care to know. He barely bothered to understand menial human feelings unless it would help him….perhaps he should pretend to care just this once.

"That's a shame," He started, finally sitting up. "for everyone here." He sounded soft and gentle. "I'm sure you miss my niece in-law." He loved to point out his relation to Kara Zor-El since every time he did it he could almost sense Kara squirming at the idea of them being family despite her not actually being able to hear him.

"She made things more interesting." The agent agreed as she placed the bowl of food in Non's hands sharply. "Eat quickly, I have somewhere to be." She added, leaning against the wall of the cell as she waited for him.

"I do not." Non replied, placing the bowl down beside him. He took the time to listen, and soon he had a map in his head of the room he knew off by heart. The agent had left the external door open. "And neither will you."

"What do you.." Non slammed his hand out into her face, grinning when he heard the glass crack under the force of her head. This wasn't following one the plans he had formulated during his months inside this place but if there was one thing he had learnt from Supergirl was that even the worst plans could prevail. He pinned her to the glass by her throat, holding back his strength so she didn't die instantly.

"Don't scream." He ordered her, she could hardly breath and no sound emerged from her lips. "I need to think." He added as she struggled but her kicks and punched felt like soft brushes against his skin.

In his mind the room was mapped out in black and purple blotches, a style of echolocation or sonar that let him stand with confidence. The camera wasn't working, he knew because the soft, irksome buzzing it made wasn't invading his head. He wiped the agent's blood from his hands on the wall as he walked out; human's bled so easily it was disgusting and yet he loved to make them drip in the red liquid.

The humans were so oblivious, he grunted with irritation as he walked down the corridor: if he wanted the message of destruction to reach Supergirl he would have to make it happen himself. Instead of blasting through the roof with his super strength he made his way towards the central control room.

"Stay Still!" The first cry out made Non grin as he waited for them to. "Hands up." The same voice added, with a shake in the tone.

"You know that gun can't hurt me." he stated, shaking his head with a chuckle. "I am better than anyone on this planet, blind or not." He spat, he truly hated the creatures of this world but they were not his priority this time around.

The purple shapes of the agents were spotted across his vision and he could see their nervous shuffles as they mumbled to each other while clasping and unclasping their weapons.

"You really are the worse the DEO has to offer." He sneered. "Where is Supergirl? Is she going to save you?" He couldn't hear any alarms but that doesn't mean his little niece in-law hadn't been notified.

"We...we don't need her." A wary voice replied, Non turned to face the direction the voice was coming from. "We can stop you ourselves."

"Really?" Non asked. "I'm curious as to how you are going to.." He didn't finish the sentence as bullets flew towards him, each one repelled as it hit his skin. Screams filled the room as people were hit by the rebounding metal. Non moved forward to the first sign of movement he could see, smashing his fist into the person they crashed across with the room with a cry with made the Kryptonian fill with the sense of power.

The computer screens shattered under the weight of a further body, sparks shrieking as they jumped through the air, sparking fires on the desks around.

"You think you can stop me!" He roared, he phased forward with super-speed to take out a further three of the agents, pausing to the listen to the crack of their bodies against the wall. "I am more powerful than anything on this planet! Not even Supergirl can save you!"

The final agents standing looked at each other with fear and between them; they knew he was right, Supergirl was nowhere to be seen.

Non grinned at the three of them, they were practically waiting for him to eradicate them. He could almost see it, National City ㅡSupergirl's cityㅡbegging for him to rid them of their terrible lives but however tempting it seemed his focus was on The Girl of Steel and what he wanted to do with her.

"You'll send a nice message to the DEO, won't you?" The agents couldn't even open their mouths to respond before Non sped towards each of them and with three swift punches that smashed each of them into the concrete wall with sharp grunts. Non was unimpressed, he had wanted more damage to be done, he was craving the end of humanity after so long trapped inside this cave matrix.

"Supergirl!" He roared, using his hearing to location the first security camera he came across. "Listen to me." He added in a lower tone, knowing that whoever was watching could hear him. "You have betrayed your own kind, for a planet that does not want you." His mind was whizzing for a plan, he wanted to see the demise of Supergirl but he wanted her to feel pain and suffering to the journey to it, this fight needed to be stretched out and controlled instead of an over-dramatic final battle before its time.

"To me you are no longer Kryptonian." He continued. "The last daughter of our world and you follow none of our customs, you do not say our prayers, you do not respect what we have lost. Your parents, little Zor-El would be horrified at what you have become." He lashed out, a computer flew across the room as he stalked around, listening for any sign of movement in the building. There was no one coming and he questioned whether Supergirl was even watching what he was saying. He looked back towards the camera.

"Listen to me, Supergirl, before you shoot me down." He had to come up with something that would force her to come to him, make her bend to his will...what did his niece in-law desire more than anything else in this world? He thought back, scouring his mind as he brought their first proper fight into his mind after she had escaped the grasp of the Black Mercy.

"I will teach you what your mother didn't, what your father couldn't and what Astra never had the opportunity to." He recalled how she had screamed at him, how she had sobbed at the loss of her world once again...he knew what he had to do.

"Let me do this and then, Kara Zor-El, we will return home to Krypton."

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thoughts? How do you think Kara is going to respond?**

 **~Eli**


	4. No Place like home

**_'I keep myself busy with things to do, but every time I pause, I still think of you.'_**

Supergirl landed on the stone balcony of the DEO and stepped through the glass doors the instant they moved open to admit her. Agents turned to look at her more than they usually did when she walked in but she passed it off as some of them having to be new to these offices.

J'onn and Alex both stood watching her with arms crossed as she approached, her boots clicking on the floor, and Kara noticed Winn watching on from behind his computer.

"What's going on?" Kara asked, primarily assuming they had called her in so quickly (and rudely) due to some issue however there appeared to be nothing going on in the department; everyone was watching Supergirl. "Has someone escaped?" She added, looking between two of the people she cared about most. J'onn was the first to respond by shaking his head before making a gesture with his hand. Kara raised a brow in confusion.

"J'onn?" She barely got the name out before, while she was distracted, she felt cuffs clamp down over her wrists and her power drain into the Kryptonite. "Alex!" She looked at her sister in distress but the woman just looked away. "Alex! She screamed, twisting to try and get away. She didn't understand, what was happening? She hadn't done anything!

"Supergirl, calm down." J'onn ordered as the agents struggled to keep hold of the Kryptonian by her arms despite the Kryptonite.

"We are just taking precautions, Kara." Alex told her sister gently, moving forward to grasp Kara's wrists around the cuffs which she regretted letting J'onn convince her were necessary. "We think you've been exposed to red kryptonite, just let us run our tests."

"I thought Superman had taken all the Kryptonite?" Kara demanded, betrayal setting into her. She wasn't under the influence of Red Kryptonite she knew she wasn't so why were they doing this? She was angry that they had lied to her cousin, especially after he had spent so long trying to convince J'onn to give him all the Kryptonite so situations like this wouldn't happen.

"I kept one or two pieces." J'onn admitted. "It's not strong enough to hurt you, Supergirl, I promise." He gestured for the agents to take her away to the lab and waited before she was out of sight before turning to Alex. "We have to be one hundred percent sure, you understand that?" He asked her. Alex nodded but still sighed, feeling upset with herself for condemning her sister so quickly to the green iron cuffs.

Both of them knew that Kara had been snappy with them, and others and overall she just didn't seem right. Yet, Alex had seen Kara up close while she was under the influence of Red Kryptonite and she didn't believe that this was the same but she couldn't argue with J'onn's argument that they needed to be sure.

"She's going to be so angry with me." She sighed as she sat down in the seat beside Winn. Coming to work after Maggie had left was supposed to make her feel better but it only seemed to be bringing her down. Glancing at Winn's computer she was disheartened even more.

"They are still going?" She asked, pulling her chair closer to observe the anti-alien, anti-superman and supergirl protest that was taking place over in Metropolis.

"Yep." Winn said shortly. "Doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon, I'm just hoping Kara doesn't see anything." He sighed, lolling his head back to look at the ceiling. "She literally saved the world, do you know how hard it is shut up about that when there's people like this around." Alex nodded in response.

"Believe me Winn, I know." She sighed, pulling out her phone. There was still nothing from Maggie despite Alex having attempted to contact her many times since arriving at the DEO. It was evening and she wanted to be at home with her girlfriend. "Shouldn't you head home to be with Lyra?" She asked Winn with a raised brow. He shook his head.

"She's left town for a few weeks to go and spend some time with her brother, you remember him right? I decided to give them space for it." He smiled, clicking through a few more live feeds of the protest on his computer boredly. Alex nodded, at least one couple was happy. She placed her phone down on her desk with a sigh, apparently she needed to take a leaf out of Winn's book and give Maggie some space.

"Danvers," Alex looked up when J'onn called her name from the balcony of the floor above. "Get up here." Waving goodbye to Winn who wished her good luck when she asked for it she headed upstairs and into the medical lab where Kara was on the table. There was nothing Alex hated more than seeing her sister chained down like a dog and each and every time it happened she was only reminded of the first time the DEO captured Kara, just after she began her work as Supergirl with Winn, and the way Kara had refused to even look at her. Now, her face shadowed in blue from her suit, Kara did the same and twisted her head to look to the side and away from her friends in humiliation and upset.

"No traces of Red Kryptonite. She's fine." J'onn stated, looking at the young woman for a moment before releasing her hands from the cuffs. "We misjudged you, Kara, I apologise." He added, looking between the two sisters. "I'll leave you two to talk this out."

Alex approached her sister and despite the absence of red kryptonite she couldn't help but feel mirrored to when she spoke to Kara after she had recovered from that horrible period. The younger woman was lying on the table watching the ceiling with wires attached to her just as before; what comforted Alex was the vision of red and blue clothes she wore as opposed to the black and red suit that she had before.

"Kara." She whispered, reaching out to hold her sister's hand and feeling her heart sink further down when she didn't clasp hers back. "Please, tell me what's going on." Kara turned her head away from her sister for a moment, blinking her tears away.

"I'm angry." Alex sighed when the response came, what else could she have expected from her.

"I know you're angry with me Kara, I'm sorry me and J'onn misju…" She was cut off by Kara shaking her head.

"Alex, I'm angry about Mon-El." She stated. "I'm angry that he had to leave. I'm angry at Rhea, and Lillian Luthor, even Lena, and everyone on this earth that I had to give him up for and don't care for what I did. I'm just...angry." Kara ground out with tears and exhaustion. She carried anger and always had from the moment she had arrived on this earth but, even for someone as kind as Kara, it was becoming far too much to hide.

"And I'm sad, Alex." She said, finally squeezing her sister's hand. "I miss him and I miss how normal he made me feel." She opened up, shaking her head as she blinked against tears.

"You have every right to be, Kara. To be angry, to be sad, there is every reason for you to feel that way." Alex replied. "Why didn't you tell me?" She asked. Kara shook her head as she sat up.

"I don't know." She said honestly. "Supergirl has to be strong." Alex nodded, moving to sit beside her sister on the table, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. Supergirl always had to be strong, people looked up to her and Alex understood but even Kara had to learn that being Supergirl didn't mean anything when she was with her friends.

"But Kara Danvers doesn't have to be." Alex whispered, pushing hair from the other woman's face. Kara slumped against her sister with a sniff as tears rolled down her cheeks and Alex instantly pulled her close. Just as Alex was Kara's comfort blanket, Alex needed to be there for Kara as a way as feeling validated, useful and needed. Yet, in the back of her mind was the fact that the whole reason Maggie had left earlier was due to Kara and now, here she was sitting with her sister instead of her girlfriend when both of them needed her comfort and both were just as alone.

"The anger will fade." She chose to continue comforting her sister. "You just have to give it time, Kara, I promise."

The two young woman sat there for a long while, in each other's arms. To the outside, it was a beautiful and peaceful happy ending but it didn't last. A screeching alarm tore through the building with flashes of red and the two of them jumped up, averting back to Supergirl and DEO agent in a second, before heading down to the central area.

"What's the alarm for?" Alex demanded as Winn frantically brought up camera feeds.

"There's been a prisoner escape at the other DEO quarters." He replied, adrenaline fueling his body with the sparks of excitement he always got when something happened.

"Get up the camera feeds, Agent Schott." J'onn ordered, agitated. With some frantic clicks and tapping on the keyboard the correct feed came up but at the sight of the person enlarged on the screens he was in no mood to celebrate his success.

"Is that..?" He didn't finish his sentence but instead looked back at Kara who looked at the screen with a look pitched between shock, fear and angry.

"Non." She finished the sentence. "I have to get over there." She stepped away from the screen but Winn shook his head.

"The feed isn't live, this happened a few minutes ago at best, he's already gone." He paused. "Kara, I think you should listen." He stated, turning the sound up. "He's speaking to you."

Kara crossed her arms as she watched, first of all flinching as he threw the people but then...she felt the anger of earlier burning inside her as earlier. How did this happen? How was he allowed to escape? She should have been there, she had failed all those people that were in there, all those lives that Non could have destroyed through death or otherwise; she hadn't been a good hero.

"Kara," Alex saying her name made her lift her bowed head sharply. " _Listen_." She ordered, she didn't want her sister to be the only one who didn't receive the message that was clearly for her.

" _Let me do this and then, Kara Zor-El, we will return home to Krypton."_

That was the final sentence before Non smashed his way through the ceiling and the room became still aside from the fire burning around the computers. Everyone looked at Kara.

The Girl of Steel had tears on her face which was etched with with pain and vulnerability. The words of Non scalded her mind as she considered if what he spoke was true. She could hardly even breath as she watched the screen and the now empty room that Non had been standing in. DEO agents watched her in shock. She was supposed to be invincible and yet here she was frozen like a statue at the angry monologue of a man.

"Don't you all have something better to be doing!" J'onn roared; the central area cleared out immediately. "Supergirl, let's go somewhere more private." He added but she was practically unresponsive. In the end, Alex and Winn took each of her arms and helped her follow John into the back training room and locked the door behind them to stop prying eyes and ears from agents.

"Kara." After a long while, Alex was the first one to speak. She looked across to J'onn and Winn with concern before back at the curled up figure of her sister on the stairs. The young woman didn't even look up at the sound of her name, instead her head was bowed and her eyes steely with focus, on what the three couldn't understand.

"She's in shock, maybe?" Winn asked. "Maybe you should take her home Alex?" He added, pushing off from leaning on the wall. "Unless she needs to stay here for safety?" He looked over at J'onn hoping Kara would be allowed the comfort of home.

"It doesn't look like Non is going to make any attempt on her life." J'onn stated. "What we need to work out is what he knows about Krypton being alive." He paused. "Alex take Kara home, Agent Schott, are you willing to stay here and do some digging with me?"

Soon they had split up into two groups with J'onn and Winn disappearing off to investigate leaving Alex with Kara. She sat down next to her sister, pulling the limp superhero close to her. She couldn't even try to comfort her sister, she had just been told she had betrayed her family and that her world was _possibly_ still in existence and how on earth would Alex ever make her feel better following that.

"My world is alive." Kara growled out. She felt angry with herself. When she had landed here she was so adamant that her world was gone that she had done nothing to contact home. Compared to Mon-El, with his distress calls home many a time, her reaction to the end of her world was pathetic. Standing up, she stormed to the centre of the training room.

"I should have done something!" She screamed, lashing out and making a punching bag soar across the room.

"Kara, you were twelve, you were scared." Alex whispered, standing up to try and get close to Kara.

"That isn't an excuse for not trying!" She sobbed, her angry mutating into tears of lasers from her eyes. Alex jumped back from the beams of light that made a metal door drip to the ground.

"Kara!" She protested. "Calm down!" She could only barely understand what her sister was experiencing. When she had found out her father was alive, she had blamed herself but he was within reaching distance of her help but Kara's family...if they were still alive...were a universe away and not even Kara herself could remember exactly where the planet was in relation to earth which brought her chances of ever getting home down to impossible.

"My entire world!" She roared. "I didn't think to try and contact them! I didn't think to try and turn my pod around! All for Kal-el!" She sobbed, until finally her lasers retreated and she dropped to her knees.

She tore at herself in her mind, Non may have been her enemy but she still knew that at least some of what he said was correct whatever the reasons behind it. She hadn't respected traditions, she hadn't cared for her parent's wishes, she had hardly been able to recite the Prayer of the Dead for Astra. Whether Krypton was waiting for her or not, she had not abided by how she had lived on her home planet.

Alex watched; her heart shattering as she watched her sister. She felt powerless and wished that Kara would understand that if Alex could turn back time so Kara never lost her world she would have. Approaching cautiously, for she was still aware that the young woman could cause damage, but it appeared to be in vain as she was soon able to slip her arms around Kara in a hug.

"Let's get you out of that suit." She mumbled into Kara's hair. "And then we'll go home, I'll get Potstickers." Winn was right, Kara had been in shock and now was once again and not even the mention of her favourite food got a reaction from her. Despite this Alex quickly found that with a little leadership Kara would walk without support from someone and they ended up in the locker room grabbing Kara's clothes.

"Put these on for me." Alex coaxed Kara, finally getting a slow nod from her sister. Stepping away to give her space Alex pulled out her phone; she stood straighter when she saw the missed call from Maggie. Glancing over, she saw Kara was making slow progress on the transformation from Supergirl to Kara Danvers: she had time to call Maggie.

" _Alex?"_ Alex breathed a sigh of relief at hearing Maggie's voice. " _Where are you? I can't find you in the apartment."_ A stab of upset passed through Alex as she imagined Maggie arriving at the apartment to look for her but finding the place abandoned.

"I'm at the DEO." She replied, keeping her eyes on Kara who had finally peeled the Supergirl suit from her body, clearly she wasn't up to using her super speed right now. "Something's happened with Kara." A deep grunt came through the phone, one of irritation.

" _What building did she fly into?"_ Alex winced at the bitterness in her girlfriend's voice towards her sister.

"Maggie, she just found out her world might still be alive, cut her some slack." The phone line was silent for a few moments and by this time Kara was finished changing but her hair was still down around her face. Walking over Alex sat her down, standing behind her and placing the phone on speaker.

"Kara hold this, say hello to Maggie."

"Hello." The whispered voice came. Alex hadn't seen Kara like this since the months following her arrival on earth. She could remember that girl, the one who hid away in her bedroom when her determined nature for surviving the school day had dwindled.

" _Hello Kara."_ Came the short reply. " _So what's going on?"_

"I'm going to sleep at Kara's tonight, you're welcome to join us." She added, hoping Maggie would take up the offer because she knew Kara needed her help but she also wanted to smooth things over with Maggie. She threaded her fingers through Kara's hair, brushing it up to style it as close to Kara's normal style as she could.

" _I'll meet you two there."_ Alex sighed in relief, gently wrapping Kara's hair into a bun.

"Potstickers?" Kara asked, seemingly able to converse with only a single word at that moment. Alex chuckled softly, it was a step towards normality.

"Will you bring Kara Potstickers?"

" _Sure thing, Danvers. I'll see you soon."_ Alex finished up Kara's hair as the call ended, holding her sister's glasses out for her to place on her face and finally the Kara Danvers the outside world saw was back.

"Let's go home."

* * *

Non grunted in irritation. There had been no message from Supergirl, no sightings of her, he couldn't even be sure that she had received the message. The hours since his announcement to her felt like months and he had to hold onto the vision of stringing her along with hope to her death to stop him from venturing out to kill her that night.

Taking a deep breath, he paced a little bit. He knew that everything Kara Zor-El desired was to go home...there was no hint of consideration in his mind that there were aspects in her life here that she loved just as much as Krypton...that she loved _more_ than Krypton: he couldn't comprehend any Kryptonian enjoying their time on this primitive world. That was why Supergirl confused him even more than Superman did, she had experienced their world, she could remember home and yet was still content here.

It hadn't been hard to find himself a place to formulate his plan further. An abandoned warehouse, full of technology, seemed too good to be true yet Non was still happy to take residence inside.

He had to find a way to convince Kara that Krypton was alive and furthermore he needed to way for her to 'get home' that would ultimately kill her but he knew that it would take time. Perhaps, he considered, he didn't want Supergirl on his doorstep right at this moment so instead he would have to keep her busy. How?

What he needed was to break her down until she begged him to let her come home. She needed to realise what little she had on this measly planet before she came crawling to him. However he knew he couldn't do it alone. Someone, somewhere had to want Supergirl off this planet as much as he wished for her to be dead. Non tried to recall any person him and Astra had observed disliking Kara, there was too many...he needed to narrow it down.

Think...THINK!

It couldn't just be someone who hated Kara, it had to be someone who had already taken action to try and stop her before.

Non glanced around the room he had adopted for his purpose. Shiny human technology gleamed in every inch of it and yet it seemed to be disregarded here at the edge of the city with no use. Then...as he looked he noticed something written on the wall and a grin overcame his face. Supergirl's worst human enemy in National City, someone that could help and the writing on the wall had lead him right too them. Cut precisely into the metal wall, the two words that had made him hopeful;

 _Lord Technologies_

* * *

 **Sorry for the lack of a chapter last week, it was 'Creation Week' on a forum I am on and I wanted to put all of my attention into that, the quote at the top was actually one of the prompts for the tasks :)**

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a review if you have the time :)**

 **~Eli**


	5. What ever do they think of me?

**_'Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.'_**

"So.." Maggie mused, lifting her cup of coffee to her lips as she looked at Alex. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?" She asked.

The two women were curled up on Kara's sofa in her small loft apartment. The Superhero has collapsed into bed the second she had silently finished her Potstickers and Alex had carefully laid her under the covers. Now her and Maggie were drinking coffee as she watched her sister constantly from the corner of her eye.

"She just found out her planet might still exist...her real family too." Alex replied softly, placing her drink down on the table with a clunk but she wasn't concerned: Kara could sleep through the apocalypse when she was tired.

"I'm not surprised she's exhausted then." Maggie replied. "How do you feel about it?" Alex wondered why Maggie wasn't bringing up earlier and the guilt continued to set into her and she knew that the whole reason they had argued was due to Kara and now here they both were with her.

"I'm worried about Kara." Alex replied honestly, looking over at the sleeping shadow. "I'm worried that I'm going to lose her." She added, shaking her head. She thought of when Kara had lifted Fort Rozz into space and the moment she had been asked to promise to live on without her. She never wanted to feel that way again.

"Come here." Maggie murmured, moving to make room for Alex in the space beside her, pulling the other woman close. With no siblings, she found it hard to understand the love between Kara and Alex when between them pain always seemed to fluctuate. But at the same time, she wished she had something like they did, someone always looking out for her, someone who'd loved her her whole life.

"You will never loose Kara, Alex." She stated, glancing up at the sleeping figure as she allowed Alex to hide against her neck. "Wherever she is, her planet or here, she'll always be your sister. You can't lose that."

Maggie couldn't say that she loved the relationship between Kara and Alex. In some respects she was envious of the connection they had despite their differences of background, they had merely been shoved together and somehow it had all worked out. She, as an outsider, would always see the strength in their bond that they couldn't and from this grew the feeling of never being able to mean as much to Alex as Kara did. However, even if this was her way of thinking it wasn't necessarily the truth.

"I want her to stay here." Alex whispered after a few moments. "Why can't she just stay here, in this life, in this moment?" She asked, though of course the answer was crystal; Kara longed for home and time stopped for no man, not even Supergirl.

Alex wanted for Kara to be happy and in fact it was the one constant that had been in her life once she had joined the DEO. She remembered when she wanted Kara to be weak. All the nights she spent telling her not to sneak out and use her powers and each time the younger girl had obeyed had been a triumph for teenage Alex in making Kara be more disadvantaged and human like her.

"You remember how much you wanted to get your father back?" Maggie asked, sitting up a little bit and easing Alex with her. "That's exactly how Kara has felt for twelve years, and now she has hope, Alex. You can't expect her just to sit down and continue her life like nothing's happened."

"I know." Alex sighed. She was utterly exhausted after the day that had taken place but at least now she was sure that Maggie was no longer angry with her and tomorrow the only person that would be difficult would be Kara.

The two woman looked over at the young woman once more and even Maggie was relieved at how calm she looked.

"But I still wish that's what could happen." She added with Maggie nodding gently.

"It will be okay, Alex," The cop mumbled against her hair finally planting a gentle kiss against the head of her girlfriend. "I promise."

Kara slept through the night, the nightmares kept her locked down to her bed in the illusion of peace and serenity. Inside she was crying as her mind manipulated guilt within her.

 _Galaxies away, she saw Krypton and on it Alura Zor-El wept for her daughter. No one had been able to track the Pod that had sent little Kara away for the planet to then stabilize itself. Kal-el, too, couldn't be found and the entire population was utterly confounded by the disappearance of the two Kryptonian children._

" _Alura." Came the whispered voice of her father, rubbing the back of his wife who was knelt on the ground beside Kara's empty bed. "You need to sleep. You know there are people who scan through the night for her." After the two children were unable be tracked Kara dreamt that the city had come together to assist the mourning families and now teams worked twenty-four-seven to look for them and help them return home._

" _You are no use to Kara keeled over exhausted." Alura's face was cracked with tiredness and the pain of the loss of her only child. Her throat was coarse from crying every moment that she was out of the public eye. Her husband watched on with a heavy soul, he wished for her to be happy but the weight of the empty bed before them crushed any dreams of that being possible. They had no other children to live on for and with Kal-El gone too the entire House of El was trapped under the loss of their next generation._

" _Alura, the sunset…Kara loved it." He said, grasping her hand to lead her over to the windows that con-caved around the room protectively. The red sun burned intensely as it trickled through the tinted glass. He remembered when they had it put in specially for Kara, so even as a baby she could watch the sun without ever being burnt by its rays. The sun was beautiful but also destructive and looking over to his wife he decided that love was the same._

 _Kara watched her mother place her hand on the glass. Dream Alura was skinny and weak, nothing like the confident woman she remembered from her own memories and saw in the hologram._

" _Maybe she doesn't want to come home." Alura whispered, tears streaking down her cheeks. The best case scenario for the family was that both Kara and Kal were happy and safe together but they also knew that earth was a primitive planet and that they would not be able to understand the powers of their children._

" _She doesn't want us!" Alura slammed her hand against the glass. If she had been on earth, it would have shattered at her touch but on Krypton it had no effect. Maybe that is why Kara, in this dream, saw her mother as so weak. She had none of the powers her daughter did, she could not see through buildings or race across the skies. The phrase 'human' was fitting despite her being kryptonian._

" _She is smart, why hasn't she come home?" Alura's face contorted as she banged against the window once more as if it divided her from Kara. She dropped to her knees, resting her head against the cool glass that drained any lasting energy from her instantly._

" _She'll come back to us, Alura. We have to trust in our daughter." Kara's father's voice was soft and soothing as she had always remembered. He helped his wife from the ground and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she leant against him._

 _The sun continued to shimmer on their faces. The glowing red star simmered with flames as it watched over the planet. For the two mourning Zor-Els the vibrant red only reminded them how far they were from their daughter. While they looked upon their sun they knew she looked upon a yellow one so far away. Nothing connected them anymore and nothing would until she returned._

When Kara awoke heaviness filled her heart and she wiped away the tears that had formed during her dreams...her nightmares. She had watched her parents mourn for her and while part of her hoped that they were still alive along with her home she didn't want them to be in the pain she imagined them in.

Slipping from under the sheets, she walked out quietly to the bathroom. The young woman in the mirror who looked back at Kara was almost unrecognisable. Tired circles lay under her eyes and her skin had a course red appearance from tears. All of this was almost impossible to occur to her on earth and here it was, the next thing Kara expected was the dreaded pimples that Alex had always complained about.

Heading back out to the kitchen, Kara noticed the two woman curled up on her small sofa. Somehow both Maggie and Alex had managed to stay there all night which was surprising given Alex's reputation to kick people out of bed (Kara had experienced it during many sleepovers in her sister's bed). It made her feel even the smallest bit better as she saw they were happy together and at least that was one of the Danver's sisters with a smile on their face.

She was glad for one other thing that morning: it was a Saturday. That meant no CatCo and therefore no having to cover up her fluctuating emotions for the benefit of Snapper and Miss Grant. However, it did mean that she should be doing far more work as Supergirl and she didn't feel capable of that in any capacity. Hopefully there wouldn't be any catastrophes today.

The words of Non re-entered her mind about her being dismissive of the traditions of Krypton. She had little from Krypton, only what had come in the pod with her: herself and her necklace (the latter she had of course given to Mon-El). However that didn't mean the Pod held more answers to her civilisation than she could remember and therefore the Pod's database would be her first point of call once she got into the DEO. She had to consider it lucky that there had been two Kryptonian pods in the DEO otherwise when she had sent Mon-El away she would have lost any database on board her own pod.

"Morning, Kara." A voice said and Kara glanced over to find Maggie slipping out from underneath Alex and once making sure her girlfriend wasn't in danger of falling off the couch she headed into the kitchen to greet the other woman.

"Hey Maggie." Kara looked surprisingly lost within her own kitchen when the replied and Maggie took pity on her, gesturing for her to sit down on the bar stool.

"I'll make Coffee." She stated, receiving a small and thankful nod from Kara in response. A silence fell across the kitchen, only interrupted but the heavy breaths of Alex behind them. Kara's mind was back on trying to work out a way to learn more about her Kryptonian roots. There had to be something other than the pod...maybe she would have to talk to Non? Wait..the Fortress of Solitude. It was filled with everything she could ever want to know.

"What are you thinking?" Maggie paused Kara's thoughts about going to the Fortress as soon as possible. "I can see it on your face, Kara. You've got a plan. About what I can't guess."

Kara always tried her hardest to understand everybody and this was especially true for Maggie because she she wanted was for Alex to be happy and this woman was the route for that. However there was one thing she couldn't understand and that was both Alex's and now Maggie's natural ability to read her expression like no other humans could. She could hide very little from either of them.

"I can find out more about Krypton in the Fortress of Solitude." She stated as she reached out for the coffee that Maggie had made her. "I will travel there later today." She added, knowing that she wanted to wait for Alex to wake up and explain to her personally where she was going before she took off.

"You actually believe whatever Alex is telling me this man said to you?" Maggie demanded with a raised brow. "What did he say to you?"

"That I betrayed Kryptonian culture." She replied, shaking her head. "I haven't been following traditions, I should have taught Superman about them too." She muttered, gulping down the last of her coffee and stepping away to flick the television on quietly.

"You'll wake Alex up." Maggie said almost accusingly. Kara just shook her head in response as her eyes scanned the news. She had been hoping that it would be a quiet morning. She sighed as she glanced back at Maggie who raised a brow at Kara.

"Can Supergirl cope with one fire this morning?" Kara had gone by the time Maggie had finished speaking.

* * *

It hadn't taken Non long to track down the location of Maxwell Lord. Despite the millionaire believing he had practically disappeared from the face of the earth and especially National City he hadn't been able to hide from the sonar of the Kryptonian.

The holiday retreat home was on the sun-kissed West coast and it reeked of all the money that the man earned through his, sometimes questionable, business practices. Despite all his money, however, there was little security around to cause Non trouble as he entered the property using his sonar to map out the rooms.

"Maxwell Lord." Non's voice echoed throughout the property and he grinned at the god-like presence he created. "I need to speak with you." It wasn't long before Lord responded to the summons and appeared at the opposite end of the corridor that Non was in and of course he brandished a gun.

"Who are you?" Max demanded with an over confident smirk. "What are you doing here?" Non smirked straight back at him.

"I need your help." He stated immediately. He had never seen the point of villains holding back in saying what they wanted. "I've gathered that you dislike Supergirl?" He questioned. "I need your help to end her." By this point Non had taken it upon himself to sit down and Max had started listening.

"You have a proposition to make?" He asked, moving to sit opposite Non but with his gun still gripped in his hand. "I'm listening." He added, his clasp on his gun loosening a little bit.

"I need a way to convince Supergirl she is going home to Krypton, but in the end will kill her." He said simply with a cruel smirk. "I want her to be forced to come to me to find her way home. That phase has already begun." Max couldn't help but look interested.

"Why would ever come to you?" He questioned with a raised brow. Of course he knew about this man's relation to Supergirl (all derived from the picture aided family tree he had compiled about Supergirl while he was still living in National City) but he was also aware of her hatred for him. "Knowing the stubbornness in every bone in her body she would never come to you."

"She felt the same about Astra and yet shed tears when she died." Non replied with a voice dripping in confidence and superiority. "With time she will come to me, there is only so much she had learn from those files in the Fortress." He smirked. "She'll crave a human face to learn from and Superman is of no use to her in that aspect."

"You seem to have this all worked out." Max replied simply. "And yet you still sit here in front of me. What would you require my brains for?"

"Like I said, I need a way to convince Supergirl that Krypton still exists and that there's a viable way for her to get there." He explained. "Then of course, this method of getting home, which she can only find out by coming to me, will kill her." Non knew that he seemed to be asking for the impossible however that sense he was getting off Max was not one of mocking disbelief...the other man was on board and already trying to work out a way to make this plan successful.

Max considered everything he knew about Supergirl, what she had done in her time in National City. He knew almost everything that could be know about Kara Danvers and that was a result of all the cameras and people he had used back when he had been actively spying on her before he left.

"There's no chance Krypton really did survive?" He questioned. Despite knowing a lot about Kara he knew extremely little about her home planet and that irritated him.

"It exploded and took everyone with it. Only Kryptonians on Fort Rozz, Kara and Kal-El survived the blast." Non replied cooly, pleased that he knew more than Max. "Not even the slightest chance." He reiterated.

Max sat back in his seat, his mind flicking through every piece of information he knew about Kara Danvers until finally an idea sprung forward. He recalled being told about the presence of 'The Blur' in National City. The streak of red that had shot up to conveniently save Kara and in the same day the young man named Barry Allen that had appeared. This event had sparked a placement of a new camera in the young Danver's apartment and in turn he had been there to witness the arrival of Barry and Cisco through the wormhole the next time they visited Kara. An idea for how to make this plan thrive grew and a grin set into his face.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of the Scarlet Speedster?"

* * *

Kara was flying back from the fire. On a normal day it would have been an easy task but today is had exhausted her and now she was enjoying the leisurely pace that she was taking on the way back to her apartment.

As she started a swirling pattern around a skyscraper she smiled when she saw a face at one of the windows. Hovering outside the child waved at her enthusiastically and Kara raised a hand to wave back, her troubles eased by the joyful look on his face.

The little boy placed his hand splayed on the window and Kara swooped forward and pressed her hand against the cool glass with a gentle smile on her face, making sure her face was level with his.

His joy reminded Kara of Kal-El when she was under the grasp of the Black Mercy. In turn that thought made her yearn even more for the comfort of her home planet.

With a quick goodbye wave to the child Kara took back to the open skies but this time she had a specific destination in mind. She recalled seeing the L-Corp, previously Luthor Corp, building grow up towards the sky when she used to visit National City during her plans to move there from home. The gleaming windows were a familiar site to Supergirl however it had been a long time since she had landed on that balcony and doing it again seemed wrong.

Lena didn't appear to be in her office but the lights were on and that gave Kara hope that the Luthor would appear. In any case, The Girl of Steel was happy to wait.

"Supergirl," the familiar voice finally rung out and Kara turned around from looking over the city. "To what to I owe the pleasure?" Lena questioned, leaning in the doorway to her office.

"Am I not allowed to visit anymore, Ms Luthor?" Kara asked, raising a brow slightly as well. Lena laughed a little bit.

"In _your_ city, Supergirl, I believe you can visit anywhere." Lena replied. "However, I can't help but feel it's more than a coincidence that you turn up for the first time in weeks the day after your friend Kara Danvers conducts an interview with me concerning you." Kara could tell that Lena was upset and it was clear that it was her fault, as both Supergirl and Kara.

"I'm sorry I didn't come to see you." Kara replied, keeping herself detached from the mention of her other self for she couldn't accidentally give away any information about the interview since as Supergirl, she hadn't been there.

"You've been busy." Lena replied. "As has Kara. My only two friends, both gone at the same time." She said and Kara felt panic strike through her, worried for what Lena would soon accuse her off.

"That's just a coincidence. I know that Kara has been dealing with her boyfriend's absence."

"You mean Mon-El, the Daxamite you aided from the planet in a Kryptonian Pod?" Kara snapped her eyes up to Lena's. How did she know that? What she watching her?

"Don't look so shocked Supergirl, I know you are hiding something from me. I'll work it out soon enough." Lena said in a gentle tone. She didn't want to hurt her friend, nor scare her further away than she already was but she also hated secrets.

Lena looked away into her office at the sound of her assistant entering and when she turned back Supergirl was gone with just a red cape in the distance to mark her journey away.

* * *

 **So Lena is upset with Kara/Supergirl :O**

 **What did you think of the chapter? Leave a review if you can! Enjoy :)**

 **~Eli**


	6. Stronger Alone, or so she thinks

_**'She was stronger alone...' -Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen)**_

The Fortress of Solitude had been fixed since the incident with Mxyzptlk and Kara assumed that was down to Superman, she had hardly had chance to warn him about the damage and therefore appreciated his selfless act. She found the cool air inside refreshing, she loved National City but the atmosphere was stuffy with humidity and the noises of the people who lived there and here it was pure silence. When she breathed, she saw the gentle cloud of vapour from her lips disappear, and she wished she too could leave this world that easily. Krypton was where she wanted to be.

She was a little upset over what had happened with Lena but she knew that she deserved it, after ignoring her for a long while when she likely needed just as much support as she did. Kara had a support system of people around her while Lena had 'two' people; Kara Danvers and Supergirl. However she was able to push this guilt into the back corner of her mind as she walked over to the control panel.

The panel was coated in a gentle layer of frost that Kara brushed away to reveal the glowing Kryptonian symbols that lay embedded around the central hologram screen. Her language, she decided, was incredibly beautiful written down and she prefered it over English any day. Now Astra was gone, she was the only fluent Kryptonian speaker left on Earth besides Non as, despite her best efforts, Kal-El would never have the tongue of a native.

Inside the database within the Fortress was every document concerning Krypton that Kal-El and Kara had between them. Most of it had come with them on their pods, more had been retrieved from Mon-El's stolen pod and some was compiled purely from Kara's memories and experiences of home.

When Kal-El had brought her here as a child she had been far more interested in getting him to tell her about Earth than telling him about home as it had still been traumatic to think about. As a result, many of the files were untouched as Kal-El couldn't access them without translation and Kara hadn't wanted to look at them. Now, she wished that she had been strong enough when she was younger to think about home but she had been more than desperate to escape it.

She stood and read the documents for a long time while far away, her friends worked to try and work out what Non was doing. Alex, Winn, J'onn, Maggie: there were so many that cared for her. Lena would have been been included on that list but it was clear that she hadn't appreciated the lack of her 'two' friends for the last few weeks. After Mon-El had left, Kara had distanced herself from everyone and for a while they gave her the space to grieve. But after the first two weeks of watching Kara overwork herself to keep her mind off her problems they tried to step in. However, when the Girl of Steel was determined, nothing on Earth was truly able to stop her, not even Kryptonite.

"This isn't enough." Her voice echoed around the Fortress, each repetition agreeing with her. Inside, she tried to console herself but then she remembered her mother in her dream last night. They were waiting for her, far, far away, and she _had_ to get to them soon or all they would ever think of her was the daughter who didn't love them. She needed to get to Krypton and she had to relearn the customs; there was only one person who could offer both of these things to her.

Kara stepped outside into the roaring snow and icy wind. The weather tried to force her back inside; it chilled her to the bone instantly and lashed her with her own hair. She fought back until she stood right at the edge of the white cliff like a God over the freezing wasteland below her yet she was anything but. God's were tall, mighty and in control but Kara was broken, weak and begging.

"Non!" She screamed out. He was watching her, she knew he was, and there was no point in wasting time trying to contact home when that time could be used trying to get back to Krypton. "I want to go home."

The wind picked up as Mother Nature screamed with loss and anger. The very earth cried as Kara's desperation for home overtook her and it watched as she stood on the edge of the glacier cliff, watching over the frozen waste line and screaming for the embodiment of evil. Her red cape soared in the wind and gave the illusion of her being in flight however all the Earth saw was the colour of blood leaking out onto the innocent white snow. She already knew that this would end in the death of her beloved Kryptonian daughter and nothing could be done to save her.

* * *

Non was lying still as Lord's doctors examined his eyes. They seemed to believe that they would be able to restore his sight however he doubted that they would be able to understand his Kryptonian physiology.

After listening to Maxwell's plan he could admit that it seemed like a reasonable method of convincing little Kara that she would be able to go home.

 _"The Scarlet Speedster, also known as The Flash, appeared in National City about two years ago during an attack by Banshee on CatCo." Maxwell begun his explanation by diving in at the deep end. "However almost as soon as this superhero appeared he left; just a few short days. However of course I felt that he would be back for help from our lovely Supergirl and so I put Kara's apartment back under surveillance."_

 _Non paused a little at this as he imagined this man watching his niece go about her life. While he had to admit it was a good way to keep track of her he knew how disgusted Astra would have be if she was here to know it was taking place. He brushed off the feeling quickly, he committed many crimes against Astra's memory (and inside knew that if she was still alive she would have disposed of him as her husband) but he could not let this stop him._

 _"More recently, he appeared again through a wormhole in Kara's apartment." Maxwell had video to hand of the event that had turned everything he knew about the world upside. The theory of the multiverse was true, and within it other super heroes lived and worked but even they sometime needed help and they would cross interdimensional barriers to get it. The video showed Kara, after donning her Supergirl costume, leave with the two young men through a new wormhole created with a device that he had intricately studied ever since this event._

 _"The theory of the multiverse!" Maxwell exclaimed with exaggerated hand gestures. "Hundreds of versions of earth all in the same spot, unable to see each other. Now, I would assume that if one of these earths was destroyed, all the others would be two however it wouldn't be a stretch to believe that they could survive."_

 _Non was finally starting to understand what sort of plan was being formed._

 _"So we convince Kara that another version of Krypton survived, one where her family and friends continue to live?" Non guessed with Max nodding as he spoke. It seemed the perfect plan, he knew that Kara would be too overwhelmed by the idea of her family that she wouldn't even consider that another multi-verse could mean a version of her parents that she didn't know._

 _"Precisely, it takes a great amount of speed and energy to break the interdimensional barrier, and I have gathered that the device that Kara has only allows her to travel from Earth Prime to our Earth in either direction. I propose that we 'help' her get home to an alternative Krypton but in the process, destroy her."_

Thinking back, the words 'destroy her' stuck with Non. He was ready and willing to see his niece die the death she deserved; one of shattered hope, loneliness and fear. Yet 'destroy' didn't seem exactly the word he had associated when he envisioned her demise himself. He saw blood and pain, terror and death, there would be no Supergirl left at the end; obliterated.

"Can you see anything at all, Sir?" One of the Scientists asked, Non merely grunted, not understanding why this was important as of now. He was about to finally answer when the familiar voice of Maxwell filled the room.

"She's done it." He breathed, delighted shock in his voice like a child whose project had won at the school science fair. "She's begging for your help, Fortress of Solitude, you have to go quickly." The fragmented sentences proved the urgency of the situation and before Maxwell could utter another word Non was gone towards the frozen wasteland of the fortress.

Her cape reflected off the gleaming snow, projecting a red glow of death around her. Easy to spot, with wild hair and desperate eyes, Non could sense the pure determination brewing inside of her as the purple-shape of her in his eyes stood strong against the snow storm. Weakness seeped from her, and he reveled in it; if he had known it took so little to get her to submit then he would have done it long ago. What he didn't realise was how ineffective it would have been anytime before the loss of Astra, the loss of Mon-El, the loss of her sister to Maggie and so much more. Kara's mind was so distorted with grief that she saw no one standing by her when it fact they were waging war to reach out to her. In the chilling wind, and icy snow, Non watched Supergirl and imagined the red turn into her blood seeping to the ground as she died in front of him. There was no horror or regret in his mind, just the drive to make sure what he imagined, happened.

"Kara, my child," The paternal tone attracted Kara's attention, and gave her hope in the help that she knew he would offer her. False hope, wrongly placed in a man only wanting to harm her. Non offered his hand towards her, and she took it, levitating to be eye to eye with the man she once hated. "It's time for us to go home."

* * *

Alex screamed, and Maggie held her tight as they crumpled to the ground in the darkly lit DEO. Winn sat back in his chair, a rush of failure overtaking him for the moment as the continual buzz of white noise, where Kara usually spoke through her earpiece, plagued his mind. Even Hank, the man with a response to every situation, knew there was nothing he could do to draw their superhero back to her place, safe and at home. Surrounding them all, DEO agents whispered between themselves after watching the city's beacon of hope fly away with the angel of death. In the room, hope had suddenly died as all eyes watched the screen, and replayed over what they had just seen.

 _The DEO video feed of the Fortress was disrupted often, due to the weather, but everyone in the room had been able to see what had happened. At first, the room held their breath as they watched their colourful beacon of hope fly closer to the black-clothed bringer of death. The chance of her leaving him diminished with each passing second, marked by increasing urgency of Winn's tapping on his keyboard._

 _"Agent Schott!" Hank said loudly, as if just saying the name of his agent would grant him the powers to connect to the dead earpiece that Supergirl possibly still had on her, or could be lying buried in the snow._

 _"I'm trying.." Winn replied, tired eyes drooping desperate the desperation that coursed his veins. This one time, he had to get it right. A quick glance up at the patching video feed told him he didn't have much time; Non was speaking to Kara with his hand out towards her._

 _Alex dug her nails into her hands as she watched, unable to tear her eyes away despite Maggie begging for her to leave the room._

 _"You don't need to watch this." She coaxed her girlfriend, running a hand up and down her arm. "Alex..' Nothing was getting through to her, her sister was the most important thing in the universe in that moment._

 _The audio of the feed also fluctuated, everyone saw Non speak but no-one knew about what, with snow obscuring much of his words. Yet, with the buzz, Supergirl's voice boomed a second later._

 _"I will do anything," The desperation shocked everyone in the room. They knew Kara had been drifting away, but her emotional strength hadn't left with Mon-El, instead perhaps her judgement of when she had to use it was taken. "Take me home." Her tears were frozen, and whisked away by the wind but from her tone it was clear that she was crying._

 _The pair on the screen soon disappeared, leaving just a blank screen of white for all to watch; Supergirl was gone, and with her the colourful hope that she gave to the people around her, to the city and to the world._

Looking around the room, after Alex's cry had startled all, it was clear no answer to their problem was going to arise.

"Hank.." Winn breathed, pulling his shaking hands away. He hadn't been able to do it, that was all that he could think, he hadn't saved Kara. "How are we going to get her back?" It appeared the easiest way to deal with it was to ignore all facts and believe she had been forced to fly away into the distance beside Non. Yet deep down, it was clear that she had left of her own free choice, and that hurt had to be hidden away.

"Track her, Agent Schott...somehow." Hank replied, crossing his arms defensively. With a nod, Winn was off again, looking for her while all the other agents soon joined in, whether it was their area of expertise or not. "We'll get her Alex." He tried to comfort, but the lack of faith in his own voice told all. Alex nodded anyways.

"I'm going to take her home." Maggie replied instead, trying to coax Alex away from watching the screen that only confirmed Kara's absence. There was no flash of blue and red against the blinding white, nothing against the colour that marked their loss. Hank nodded, he couldn't watch her like this, he cared for her far too much and it hurt not being able to fix it.

So Alex and Maggie left, and with time so did Winn. Soon, only Hank remained, with the skeleton of staff who stayed around in the early hours of the morning. Standing, before those screens, watching for any sign of Kara.

"Sir? There's a visitor for you." Hank waved the agent off, at 3:30 am, it would be no one able to help him.

"Mr Henshaw." The voice spoke cold and firm, and a spark inside the DEO director lit up. "I'm going to help you find Supergirl." He didn't question how she found out, got the DEO or anything else in that moment. Instead he turned and looked her dead in the eye.

"And how are you going to do that, Ms Grant?"

* * *

 **When my plan was to write this fanfiction over summer and now it's four weeks into the school term whoops..**

 **What did you think? What is Cat doing there?**

 **This chapter is about 1,000 words shorter than the others because one, this was a good place to end the chapter, and two, the story is winding down to the end now :)**

 **~Eli**


	7. The Girl of Steel

**_'There are no happy endings, endings are the saddest part. So just give me a happy middle, and a very happy start.' -Shel Silverstein_**

Kara walked into Catco. She was confident and glowing, unusual on a Monday even for her, and strangely perfect. Not a hair was out of align in her ponytail, her skirt was perfectly shaped to her legs, her makeup flawless and her smile as sweet and as kind as ever. This would have all been dismissable if it weren't for the missing-person's report that had been on her head for a week.

There had come a point when the DEO has foregone the possibility of unravelling Kara's secret identity, and at Cat Grant's request had declared her a missing person to the news. It would only take one bright spark to put the pieces together (no sightings of Supergirl at the same time Kara Danvers was missing) but that was not a top priority for anyone.

Eyes across the office floor watched the young woman who was acting as if nothing was wrong. Even as she walked past her own 'missing' poster on the glass wall of Cat's office, she didn't bat an eye. Everyone could recall watching their boss blu-tac that image to the glass, facing outwards for all to see. It didn't fit in with the atmosphere of the room, the black title and picture of Kara from the building's database of employees. That was the moment that everyone knew that Ms Grant cared about the absence of the assistant-turned-journalist than she was letting on.

"Morning Ms Grant," Kara announced as she breezed past an open-mouthed Eve, much of the office echoing her expression. "I thought an iced latte would be more appropriate today, it's warm outside." A small smirk found it's way onto the girl's face, just another indication that she wasn't perhaps the same person that had disappeared off into a snowy wasteland three weeks before.

"Kara.." Cat used her real name with a sharp intake of breath following it. She was here. The last three weeks had felt like an eternity without her bubbly outlook on life and smiles of sunshine to blow the cobwebs away from her ageing face. Hope grew inside her and boiled as it mixed with the anger that had also been cultivating during her time waiting for Supergirl's return. 'What on earth were you thinking?" She demanded, taking a moment to place her usual uncaring, superior tone into her voice with a jolt. "It's turning Autumn now, hardly the time for an iced drink," She paused. "Though I supposed you must have missed the changing of the seasons during your trip in the freezing Arctic, hmmm?"

The young woman tilted her head to the side a little, the movement followed by a laugh that could have come from a sitcom recording.

"Funny, Ms Grant, very funny. You knew I was just trying to contact some of my family." She turned to leave the room with spin, the crowd that had gathered outside dispersing immediately. "If you were that concerned about me, why didn't you set your friend Supergirl on my trail?"

Cat watched as she left, heading in the direction of her new office. The least that could be admitted that was that something had changed within Kara during her time away. The girl was playing with her, but it also looked like she was being controlled, with her robotic movements and well-rehearsed statements...what had Non done to her?

Slumping down into her chair, Cat supposed that they should be considered lucky that she wasn't already dead (it meant a greater chance of saving her) and that she was back in National City, but the Media Queen still felt like she was drowning in the at her laptop, she knew she needed to alert the DEO, or at the very least the other Danvers sister, of Kara's return but she just couldn't bring herself to even lift a hand. It seemed like as Kara had walked out she had taken Cat's motivation with her. She had felt the same three weeks previous, and could hardly recall what had forced her to get up and go to the DEO back then, let alone now.

"Cat?" James Olsen; Cat couldn't help but roll her eyes. Of course, Kara's wannabe Superhero friend would come running in once the action was over and the villain had won. "Was that Kara?" He placed his hands on Cat's desk with a thud. "Why did you just let her walk out?"

"Mr Olsen," Cat started in a drawled tone. "We all know Kara Danvers is capable of looking after herself." She stated as she stood up, walking towards the front of her office.

"You've alerted the DEO?" James asked after a moment, hiding his anger at his boss. "How are we going to make sure she stays safe?" He demanded. Cat chuckled dryly in response.

"She's _Supergirl_." She stated, with a flourish on the iconic title. "She keeps _us_ safe, James, not the other way around." In one sudden movement, she reached up and ripped down the poster that had been stuck on her wall for the last seven days.

"You know it doesn't work like that." He replied fiercely, anger burning behind his eyes. "You care about her Cat, I know you do. Don't let her make this mistake." He protested, desperate to get her influence on the right side of the fight for Kara.

"She's a grown-up girl," Cat replied, carefully beginning to rip up the image of Kara into uniform little pieces. "If you want to play Superhero, James, I'd suggest going after her." She looked into his eyes, dropping the paper pieces to the floor before returning to the safety of her desk.

As James stormed out, a few pieces swept back up into the air. A final gush of hope for the Girl of Steel, but then they settled down towards the carpet, a dead weight in the air. Cat returned to her work, not even watching the final demise of the woman named Kara Danvers.

* * *

Winn was shocked awake at his desk when the proximity alarm for Supergirl blared into his ear. Agents around him, all working on other important tasks, glared until his brain kicked in and he switched the noise off. None of them knew that it was signal for the impending arrival of The Girl of Steel, as far as they were concerned she was a lost cause.

"Is that Kara?" Winn spun around to face Alex, who had spoken in the exhausted and desperate tone. The woman was wrapped in Maggie's police jacket and looked like she had just been rescued from a freezing blizzard. It was the least to say that with one Danver's sister absent, the other did not fare well.

"Alex!" An exasperated Maggie called, she was close to half-dressed, with black jeans paired with a suspiciously pyjama looking t-shirt with them and unlaced shoes. "Come on, you had just got to sleep." She coaxed, touching her girlfriend on the arm but the other young woman was far too alert to consider sleep.

"Where is she?" She demanded as she slid into the chair beside Winn, watching the screens in earnest. Winn tapped away, ignoring Maggie's protests towards Alex as she did.

The little red dot on the screen had been moving fast, but now it had slowed in a familiar building.

"CatCo." He breathed, readying himself to send out a team of agents but stopped himself as the triangulated dot picked up speed again. She was flying over the city, that was clear enough, and he could imagine the attention she was receiving. It had been weeks since any sighting of the resident Superhero and he knew people below would find their eyes following the familiar red and blue streak in the sky. It was as if she was leading them towards hope again, but Winn knew that couldn't be the case. As the dot stopped sharply, Winn zoomed in on her location.

"Her loft." He said, glancing up at Alex. "She's gone home."

Kara and Alex had gone to look at the loft together, way back when the younger Danver's sister was desperate to move out to National City. She could remember coming home from another travel out of town and Kara informing her of the plan. It came after Kara had gone for the interview with Cat Grant, and within a day of getting the job, she knew that living in the city would make it easier for her, without having to use her powers. And so, with Eliza worrying back home, the two had set out to look for a home for Kara.

Some of the first ones had been disgusting, no windows, mould on the walls and fleeting supplies of electricity, but with a quick budget adjustment, they quickly found more suitable accommodation. However, Kara had liked none of them. The ceilings made her feel claustrophobic or the windows didn't face the direction the sun rose in. There had come a point where they were both ready to give up...but then they found the Loft. Kara had fallen in love instantly, with the open-plan space and kitchen room for her large eating habits. Alex adored the location, just a block away from CatCo but most importantly Kara liked the windows. They spanned around two sides of the entire loft, they were tall and filtered in light perfectly at every moment of the day.

"Like home." Kara had said, remembering the window overlooking the city back on Krypton, this was its equivalent on Earth. So the loft became Kara's new earth home, and there had been so many good times in it, but also bad. As Alex travelled to the loft with Winn, Maggie and J'onn she had the gut feeling that this would be a day of tears, not smiles, in the loft.

Inside, Kara looked around the space in contempt. How could she have allowed herself to be happy in this place when her family had been waiting for her at home? She had been complacent, happy to accept comfort instead of working through the trauma of her arrival to get home again. As a child, she had never truly known that Krypton had exploded, it was later, via Superman, that she was informed of that fact. In all the time she had never questioned whether home had survived, she had done nothing. Now, she paid the price for that. Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror, there was at least something she could be proud of during her time on Earth. As on Krypton, she wore her family crest with pride, and even if it had taken her twelve years to do it, it was still an accomplishment.

When her friends and family piled into the loft, followed by a few DEO agents with guns held out, they found her with her back to them as she looked over the city from the bay windows of the loft. The sun was just starting to lower itself from the sky, and it's ray's lit Kara's blonde hair up into bright glowing embers. There seemed to be nothing wrong with her, in fact, she appeared better than she had for many months; they could not see the trauma that ravaged her inside.

"Kara?" Alex spoke first, her voice hoarse as she stepped towards the figure of her sister despite urges of caution from the others. "You're home." She stated the obvious, finally getting a reaction out of the other.

"This is not my home." Kara snapped fiercely, turning her head just enough to see Alex out of the corner of my eye. "My home is Krypton, and I am so close to getting there." There was a visible drop in everyone's hope; they had wanted Kara to say this is where she belonged, and forget the impossible dream of going home to a world that didn't exist.

"You know Krypton exploded, Kara," Alex replied, desperation seeping into her tone. " _Please_ , Kara!" She added in a more demanding tone. "You know that Krypton is gone, you have since you were twelve." Kara's spun around violently, her eyes burning into Alex as if her laser-vision was enabled.

"You know nothing of the multiverse, the earth's I have been to are different from this one, sister, in the same way that there are a million Krypton's for me to go home too." Kara seethed, her eyes roaming across her sister with disregard. This woman had kept secrets from her, she _must_ have known about the existence of other Kryptons, and yet still she stood there with snaking lies leaving her lips. "My method of getting home is already in place, Alex, I merely came here to give you all a chance to say your goodbyes." She paused for a long moment. "That's what humans do, don't they?"

Silence filled the room, they couldn't just let her go. They couldn't. Yet any movement towards Kara that seemed anything more than a peaceful goodbye would just end up in violence. Winn, Alex, Maggie, and J'onn all looked between each other. They considered whether this was the time to give in to what Kara wanted, even if James, Eliza, Cat, and Lena didn't get the goodbye they were about too.

"Kara…" J'onn said as if hoping the sound of begging from yet another would bring Supergirl back down to earth, and into reality. Kara merely glanced out her window, noting how the sun was lowering itself in the sky.

"Say goodbye now, or live without it." She told them, her chance to get home was nearing and she wouldn't let these people take that from her again.

Finally, Alex shuffled forward, wrapping her arms around her sister and practically collapsing onto it with tears streaming down her face and dripping one by one onto Kara's red-caped shoulder. It took a while, but Kara finally reached up to wrap a single arm around the woman, and that was the only kind movement she made throughout all the rest of those in the room stepping up to bid their goodbyes, and last pleas, to the Superhero.

"Try not to be sad," Kara spoke words that would normally be associated with love, and not wanting to see someone upset, but she spoke with a cold tone, and everyone before her was breaking inside. "I'll be home, and much happier than I ever could be here." She stated, looking at J'onn. "You, of all people, should understand that."

"Kara, please!" Alex tried one last time, stepping towards her sister. Kara didn't let her get close, a single strike to the face, the woman backed off with a look of pain.

She took a step towards the window, opening it with an easy swing, to her, her journey home would be just as simple. Kara looked back, and smiled at them.

"Goodbye."

With that, she took off into the sky, a colourful streak on the horizon, and the rest ran out to see what was about to occur.

* * *

It was late afternoon, the hours bleeding into the early evening as the summer sunlight warmed the city up from its place still high in the sky. The buildings reflected its rays, again and again, blinding the people who all looked up to watch what was happening.

Supergirl was still in the distant sky, a skyscraper and a half up from the ground, and clearly planning to go higher. Opposite it, a man in all black, meeting her eye with a deathly gaze. Between them, a sphere which glowed purple….but on the inside Kryptonite oozed, unbeknown to The Girl of Steel.

"Fly this into the sky, as fast as you can, and it will explode." Non stated, gesturing with his hands around the floating sphere. "The speed and heat will create a wormhole greater than the one you use to cross to Earth 1. You not only have to cross multiverses, my dear niece, but a galaxy also."

Kara nodded, her blonde hair flowing in the breeze that was surrounding them. She couldn't help but make a small calculation; the distance up in the sky she would have to go to ensure that no person below got harmed. She was leaving Supergirl behind, perhaps, but these humans didn't have to pay the price for that.

"When?" She asked, knowing that (according to Non), the position of the sun had to her perfect, in order to help create the cascade that would break open the hole in the multiverse. Thanks to Max Lord, every number was perfect, every fact that Non fed to her was utterly within the realms of Science, despite the small detail that what she was about to do would not get her home.

"Three minutes, but you know that." He smirked, her eagerness to get it right affirming to him that she believed every word of the elaborate lie. She nodded, glancing down towards the ground. A few figures caught her eye, she could see Cat and Lena glancing at her from their respective offices. Alex stood far below, with Maggie and cops by her side. Winn and James were together, and J'onn….she couldn't see him yet...but he couldn't be far from Alex.

"Kara.." Non scolded, gesturing with his hand for her to bring her eyes back to focus on the sphere. "Remember what I taught you?" He asked, referring to their long and tedious lessons in the cold climate of the Fortress.

"They don't care about me, they care that I am an alien." She echoed. That was the first point of every day, everyone on this earth loved her because she was interesting, because she was an alien. If she had just been a normal child, no one would have adopted her, no one would have cared for her. She knew that for a fact, she had seen how this planet treated their young, she was lucky to escape it now.

"Exactly." He stated, feeling the sun move to the correct point behind him, he forced his smirk to become a smile. 'Now, Kara. Fly."

She shot up, the sphere in her hands, and when she briefly glanced back down...Non was gone. She couldn't let that stop her. She put everything behind her speed, she recalled racing Barry, and moved faster. She remembered stopping the spaceship, and used more strength. She thought about her home, and went higher. As she did, the machine beeped. It got louder and louder, as finally she reached her calculated altitude. She pushed a little bit further, her mother and father were in reach, as were the stars….

The explosion was deathly, it shook the earth to the core. Kryptonite ripped into Kara's body; shattering into her lungs, her bones, her heart. Blood dripped from destroyed eardrums, as she tilted back, and began to fall.

She came from the depths of the sky, faster than her pod, with more power and less hope. Her skin was flooded with green, it reflected onto the clouds, and flashed across the sky for everyone below to see. Her hair whipped into her face, slashing her lips and eyes with merciless red lines. Her eyes were focused on the destruction far above her, a cloud of black, a bomb made to kill her, not take her home.

The fire from the explosion caught up with her, as she felt like she was falling in slow motion. Ashes and flames became rain around her as if she was dropping down from heaven, surrounded by hell. Sunlight forced its way through the cloud of death above her to frame her body like a spotlight: it invited everyone to watch and remember the end of The Girl of Steel.

Within the millions of people watching, Alex screamed far below, and J'onn appeared from seemingly nowhere to wrap his arms tightly around her. Cat was wordless, that was Kara, her beautiful, friendly assistant was dying before her very eyes. She had no words, no stories to spin, she wanted it all to stop. Winn took off towards where he believed she would land, and left James behind like a statue in the concrete. Tears poured down Lena's face.

Kara, well she was hardly awake. Kryptonite was poisoning her body, just as Non's words had poisoned her mind. She could only comprehend one thing, one remnant of what he had taught her carved into the foundations of her mind: _no one in this universe is going to miss me._

The city breathed in together, as they waited for someone to save their heroine. Superman may soar out of the clouds to save his cousin. Perhaps the only-once-sighted _Blur_ would swoop in to save the day. With every blink, she was closer to the ground, and people moved apart to let it greet her as hope faded. Their attention could not even be stolen by the woman who screamed, with blood dripping from her injured mouth. Alex didn't care about keeping it a secret, she screamed for her sister. Kara knew she should have listened to her.

 _Why didn't you listen!_

She scolded herself, as Alex did the same as she dropped to the ground and curled up without hope. They had failed each other.

A shockwave ricocheted off Kara through the city as she hit the ground, a never-ending beam of green light shooting up into the sky. She convulsed, her body shaking as the fire of hit ripped through her like a sword. She was as human as she had ever been, and the pain….it was too much for her to comprehend….a guttural scream was yanked from inside her as she shook and cried.

 _I want my sister._

She sobbed and yelled the demand in her mind, like a child wanting the one thing they cannot have. Alex. She wanted Alex. She couldn't even consider what she had done to her, that could all be fixed once she had been saved. She wanted to be saved, to survive. Please.

No-one was permitted to get close, if they had been able to get through the crater filled with shrapnel anyways. Kara, however, assumed that no one cared for her. With her ears dripping blood, she couldn't hear Alex crying, or the echo Cat made as she collapsed to the ground, nor the yells and curses from Winn. She could hear so little of the world around her, and less and less with each passing moment. It was almost like she wasn't on earth anymore.

Despite the lies Non had told her, there was one thing that was true. They didn't want her. Whether she was human, or alien, she knew that this wasn't the place for her, and it had never been. His words stuck in her mind, but she could do nothing about what he said now.

All there was around her was silence, she could not hear the screams of the city as they watched her and prayed that she would live. When she stopped crying, and when she stopped moving, a darkness overtook the skies, and green rain moved in to mourn.

Supergirl was dead.

* * *

 **Anddddd...it's done! Yep, many a month late but hey, still got there! Honestly, I got the drive to finish this purely so I could start a Star Wars Fanfiction (reylo)** **and it is the first fanfiction I've actually finished ahahaha XD**

 **Please leave a review about what you thought! And whether there is any fanfics from Supergirl you might like me to try (no promises) :)**

 **Also, to the people asking about the fact I killed her, that was stated in the very first chapter, and I wasn't going to change that, it wouldn't have made for an effective story :)**

 **~Eli**


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